DarkSapphire8

This hug is too fearful

This hug is too soft

This hug is too one-sided

This hug is too beardy

This hug is too shocked

This hug is too tense

This hug is too get-over-here-let-me-hug-you-why-are-you-running

The YOI Fandom:

So sorry Anon-san if this answer is coming like way late! But, umm...better late than never?

I’m glad you liked the meta about Viktor’s room, so I’ll take a shot at the lady in the painting. Even if I feel like all the hardcore artists will come after me for my lack of correct terminology! I’m no pro, this is just something I found cool and wanted to share with the Anon who got me thinking about it!

So concerning the painting in Viktor’s room, I briefly touched on it and just called it a large artsy painting of a woman which shows that Viktor’s got class and money. I didn’t really think it was a specific person, nor did it mean anything too deep, but your question got me to look at it again…

It’s a woman painted in white-ish blue, her hair up in a bun and her large skirt blowing in the wind. She’s holding a hat, probably a bonnet because of the ribbon that blows behind her. It seems that she’s on a beach, near a sea or ocean.

I look at this painting and personally see something very innocent. Blue and white, soft, pure colours, clean water and the flowing dress a symbol of innocence. I’m kind of seeing agape here, which makes me think it’s possibly why Viktor picked that painting. Because when he was still going to compete he was working on agape and eros after all. Kinda like ‘goals’ that you post on your wall. 

Then, funny thing. Out of nowhere, my brain was reminded of a painting I’d seen online. 

This is purely my opinion, but the scenario, colour scheme and style just reminded me of this painting called The Allure, which for those of you who don’t know means the quality of being powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating.

I’m not saying this is fact, but if the painting in YOI was based on this one, then it’d signify both agape and eros, aka: Yuuri, which I can so see Viktor purchasing. 

And, get this, the painters are Russian. They’re Russian Romantic impressionist artists! Tell me it’s not very possible that Viktor would buy this from them?

On top of that, they're a husband and wife team! Mikhail and Inessa Garmash. I can see Viktor being doubly charmed by that concept.

I mean, this is what the website about them has to say:

“Today, Mr. and Mrs. Garmash are considered two of the finest Romantic Impressionists of our day. Their incredible talent is only matched by their love and career stories. In similar fashion to the determination of his artwork, Mr. Garmash courted his future wife, after seeing her for but a moment, by painting her image all over her hometown while she slept. She immediately recognized the passion with which this man cared so dearly and married him shortly thereafter.”

OK OK, is no one else getting Viktuuri vibes?? Their incredible talent is only matched by their love and career stories ??-- Recognising passion (in a skating routine online *cough*).

After meeting Yuuri and understanding life and love, do not tell me that Viktor did not buy this painting. I could see him taking it along to Japan too since it signifies his ‘goal’. 

And you know, just looking through some more of Mikhail and Inessa Garmash’s other art.

It’s all got that dreamy, romantic vibe with a similar setup. It could be inspired by any of these paintings honestly. 

Thanks Anon-san!

Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry Anon-san, I don’t know if this was sent recently or not, but is anyone’s else Tumblr not alerting them about stuff like ASKS? I just clicked on the ASK section by mistake and saw a couple there and was like…hang on…

I hope I haven’t kept you hanging for too long!

A room says a lot about you. I mean, just look at Yuuri’s room. We are made to understand right from the start who he is.

Yuuri’s room was designed to really hammer the point across that he’s the biggest Nikiforov fan out there. And let’s be honest, although we learn a lot about who Yuuri is, from his anxiety to his competitiveness, his developing relationship with Viktor is the heart of Yuri!!! On Ice.

Viktor has moved into his new room temporarily but he’s pretty damn extra and brought everything with him so there’s a lot in there to look at.

So essentially this is Viktor’s room. It’s pretty self-explanatory for the most part. We’ve got the lamps he clearly likes as we see them in his Russian apartment in ep 1. Matryoshka dolls, because he Russian duh, giant bed to share with Makka, books to read. Then there’s a large artsy painting of a woman and a, no doubt heavy af, stone sculpture. These two things show that Viktor’s got money, that he’s classy, and that he’s extra. All pretty straightforward.

So what really interests me about Viktor’s room is the photo frame. More specifically, the frame that holds a picture of himself. 

Unlike painting and posters, photo frames are far more personal. 

Yuuri has posters of his idol, okay yes there are a lot, but it’s still pretty regular behaviour. But something that I, and many others from what I’ve seen, found super endearing was that he had multiple framed photos of Viktor. That’s far more personal, and it really hinted at Yuuri’s stronger feelings. 

So then we have Viktor’s room, and the only photo frame he brings with him holds a picture of himself. 

At first, I thought damn isn’t that arrogant? So conceited, it's actually a bit cringe even. 

But then, this is Viktor. Yes he’s a legend, yes he knows it, but he’s never truly flaunted it. That doesn’t seem very in character to present him this way. 

I wondered if maybe it was Yuuri who put it in there. After all, Yuuri clearly had the same poster-- 

-- which we saw him take down from his room.

But then, that seems unlikely. That would defy the point of hiding the posters in the first place! Plus, look at Viktor moving in.

The room is completely bare, there wasn’t anything in there. Everything came from Viktor’s boxes. The frame had to have been his.

So, thinking of what I know of Viktor, one of the things that stands out the most about him was that skating was his everything. No life and love as he much later explained, but that was fair to assume even in ep 1, given that he was a legend. The sport clearly took up a lot of time!

If someone wanted to frame a picture, what would they pick? A picture of their family? A shot of them with their friends? A cute pic of them and their dog? It would be a picture close to them, something or someone that matters. And what does Viktor have?

A picture of himself skating.

Because his whole life has been his skating career, he pretty much knows nothing else. He even admitted that he rarely got to spend time with Makkachin before. 

Looking at it that way, the picture is suddenly really sad. 

When you move to another country, you’d want a reminder of the people you love, of home. Viktor brings a reminder of skating because it’s all he’s known, and it’s the thing he’s going to miss most. 

Because, think about it. He skates and skates and skates, and now it stops. He knows that choosing to be a coach means putting skating aside. His skating is framed there on his table, because it’s like looking at a missed loved one for him. 

But this is actually really beautiful. Because, throughout the entire series, we don’t really see a Viktor who mourns the fact that he’s not practicing a routine for himself. Yuuri doesn’t catch him skating by himself thoughtfully, missing having the ice all to himself. Not once do we see that on their journey! Viktor is completely engrossed in coaching Yuuri, and now he only skates to teach him. His devotion is so genuine. I  knew that Viktor loved Yuuri to have put everything on hold like that for him, but I didn’t know it like this.  

And, there’s something not right about this shot. Is Viktor really carrying one bag while Yuuri’s carrying five??

My first thought was ‘hey don’t be rude, don’t make Yuuri carry everything, share the load a bit more evenly!’

Because the way Viktor is, the way he later insisted on getting Yuuri a new suit, and the way Yuuri holds on to his old skates and clothes, I just assumed most of those bags were Viktor’s. 

He also asks if Yuuri wants to buy something--

-- which sort of suggests that Yuuri hasn’t bought anything yet? 

But then Viktor wouldn’t make Yuuri carry his bags. He wouldn’t! But the whole day Yuuri’s got so many and Viktor just has the one. 

But then, after the proposal, he takes on some of the load. 

I can’t ignore how symbolic this is, sharing the load and being equals. Which makes me think, with Yuuri’s attitude, if the bags were all his then he certainly wouldn’t have allowed Viktor to help him out. He’s too proud for that! But after the proposal, it’s a bit like he’s paid Viktor back for all the support with the ring and what it means. And Viktor accepted it. With them being on equal terms in regards to affection and where they stand as coach and student, I can see Yuuri relaxing and leaning on Viktor a bit. 

So then, is Yuuri the shopper? It doesn’t seem to fit too much... I honestly thought it seems to suit Viktor more. But I guess Viktor did say he hadn’t been shopping in a while...

I dunno. Yuuri just doesn’t seem the type to buy everything like that.

....then again...

Yuuri does own a lot of Viktor Nikiforov merch. A whole lot of pictures. A whole lot of the same picture. 

Certainly, when it comes to shopping Viktor, I think Yuuri is a bit of a shopaholic. So does that includes shopping with Viktor?

Yuuri

“Ugh, guys, we should go now.”

“No Joe. I think it’s really important that we remain here and listen to their argument.”

“It’s for our personal health, Joe. I need to know if Viktor will listen to his boyfriend and go to Japan.”

“C’mon Viktor, make the right choice. Do it for Makka.”

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                         *Beyonce's ‘Crazy in Love’ starts playing*

* Yuri’s Angels VS JJ’s Girls Dance Off a la White Chicks begins*

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*offscreen*

“Simba, everything the light touches is our kingdom.”

“Whoa, wow. Even those two skaters standing there in the light?”

“No, I'm afraid those two belong to the Otayuri fangirls. Neither Mufasa nor Darth Vader gonna mess with those wackos.”

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Wowww. So I'm the only one not in white huh. Well. Isn't this a racist little shelf.

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“Maria, you sound like a lunatic.”

“I’m telling you! I could have sworn your daughter helped those two guys get engaged!”

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*mentally, to self*

I’ll take a potato chip AND EAT IT!

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“What’s that guy saying?”

“He said his friend just got married.”

“No, I think he said he was about to pull off his best magic trick and make us all disappear!”

“What?”

*offscreen*

“Oh shit, we disappeared.” 

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“Yes. Damn, this is gold. Keep your camera pointed at him. Do you think he’ll cry?”

“Shhh, his coach can hear you.”

“Ah crap, he’s glaring at me.”

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“Who are we looking at? Beka, buddy, what’s caught your eye right now? Look at me, I'm your coach...maybe. I’m wearing a lanyard and I'm talking to you right before your SP so I must be your coach...oh God, existential crisis...

Why didn’t they give me more screentime... I’m the only coach of the GPF 6 who hasn’t spoken...What is life? I’m so lonely.

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*yawn* I shouldn’t have spent all night trying to get my dogs to play poker. I’ll just take a little nap here. No one will know. Not like cameras will focus on this area for some reason.

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*inside bus*

“Hey, look at that guy running. His dog is so cute!”

“Aww, should we wave at the dog?”

“Don’t bother, neither of them can see either us or this bus.”

“I can’t believe No Face is missing seeing such a cute dog!”

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The YOI characters are all so likeable in one way or another, that when they appear on screen, it’s easy to focus on them and not really pay too much attention to the random lifeless backgrounders in the scene.

Here here! This post is for them! I will highlight the backgrounders’ (obvious) thoughts and conversations during their scenes. Basically, point out what’s going on behind the YOI cast.

“Psst, hey Kyumachi. Is that loud foreigner the one?”

“Yes…it is him.”

“Wow. I never thought I'd see the day. It’s been 10 years now. I can’t believe someone actually bought it.”

“Yes, that tiger shirt has been unsold for so long, I never thought this time would come.

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*A smol angry Russian has appeared*

-Attack                    - Defend

-Use Items               -Run Away

You used Defend.

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                                     *Jaws theme intensifies*

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That Kastuki skater is coming this way, I’m gonna be on TV! Better give the cameras my best smile.

Oh shit, he fell! Ignore it. 

Hold the smile, hold ittttt.

Nailed it.

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Holy shit, his theme is love! How ballsy. 

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“Sam, don’t look now but that’s Viktor Nikiforov sitting right beside us! I have the biggest celebrity crush on him! Should we linger? Maybe we’ll hear him say something good.”

“Oh Lee, we’re done eating, let’s just go. It’s not like you’ll get to see the guy naked or anything.”

And so they left.

The next day, after having seen Phichit’s Instagram, Lee terminated his friendship with Sam. 

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What have I done with my life?

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Damn, those are some nice looking blue roses. That bouquet is massive. I mean, I know the kid won, but do the silver and bronze medallists have to have such unimpressive bouquets in comparison? 

Calm down Jack, green isn’t a good colour on you…Oh screw it. I’m gonna convince this kid to toss his 30 blue roses for these 5 pink tulips wrapped in plastic... that I just happen to carry around in my pocket.

*whispering to self*

Mwahaha. Oh Jack, you may have won silver for your skate, but you win gold at persuasion.

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                             *Creepy zombie staring intensifies*

                               *Creepy zombie staring multiplies*

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Oh you poor child. Good luck growing up with such embarrassing parents.

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Do I sing? Do I play an instrument? No. I'm on stage because I’m the best at what I do: 

looking fine af wearing sunglasses indoors. Hellz yeah.

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Again is right! Watching YOI is like

That’s very insightful of you Anon-san. I do wonder. Has someone shattered or tried to shatter Viktor’s heart? To use this on Yuuri, it would’ve had to have been successful or why would he do it if he’s experienced it before? Let's think.

I feel like we know so little of Viktor’s backstory, his family appears non-existent. He did say he spent his whole life without life and love, and that makes me think his parents are out of the picture, whether they passed away or are just absent I don’t know. 

Since he speaks of never having loved before, I imagine any romantic relationships would not have reached the point of affecting him so thoroughly emotionally as to shatter his heart, let alone in a productive manner.

So that leaves Yakov. As you said Anon-san, “Victor is a beginner coach & they do tend when they start off to use the experiences that shaped them”, so Yakov ‘the only coach for him’, would have been the most likely one to do this.

And yet, I don’t think so. Yakov shouts a lot, but he still keeps offering Viktor a chance to return. He complains but he looks after Yuuri for the day when he has his own skater to worry about. He reminds me of Yurio actually, a bit of a tsundere. And in the GPF, when Yurio skates, Yakov has this very sweet flashback to a young Viktor skating.

So yeah, I don’t think Yakov would have tried to shatter Viktor’s heart either.

Having said all that, I do think the reason Viktor chose to do that with Yuuri does tie in with Yakov’s coaching. 

Viktor was really struggling in that episode, so he adopted his own coach’s mentality (he’d been doing that in episode 5 too when he’d ask himself ‘what would Yakov do?’). And Yakov is all about the tough love because, let’s be honest, with disobedient skaters like Yurio and Viktor he probably has no choice but to yell! 

Haha, I love the YOI fandom because they won’t let anyone be misinformed! XD Thanks for sharing! You’re not the only one Anon-san who’s brought this to my attention after this post. Honestly, where is this interview? How has it not been reached me before!

I STILL believe though! That is, if we incorporate that Viktor didn’t recognise Yuuri because of his glasses/ hairstyle at first glance with everything else. Then this look is all:

‘Hey a fan’

And this look would mean:

‘A fan…and a competitor. I done eff up’

Or something along those lines!

But I’m glad to hear it confirmed that it was Yuuri’s skating that betrayed his fanboyism :P 

EDIT: I’ve literally just been given the link to the translation of that info. Thanks seeingteacupsindragons  :)

twitter com/soukatsu_/status/830286580212449280

Pile Of Soot-san, POS if I may, I agree with the confusion. I came across a post on Tumblr (originating from twitter) detailing all that you’ve said: that Viktor knew Yuuri to be his fan during the Sochi GPF. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to find that page/link once more! But I’m pretty sure it was legit.

I’ve actually been of a strong POV that Viktor knew who Yuuri was back then. It was in his face here…

I just couldn’t leave that at simple confusion, or even surprise or mild rejection. I mean isn’t this more likely considered Viktor’s confused/soft surprise face?

And more comically, these?

But! While I was convinced that Viktor knew of Yuuri as a competitor, I did not consider that he knew Yuuri was a fan at all either!

I also paused like you did POS, and thought ‘but how does that make any sense? How could he know Yuuri was a fan?’ Viktor may be very aware that skaters respect him, and although Yurio accuses him in Barcelona of arrogantly assuming that all skaters look up to him, I don’t think Viktor would jump to that conclusion of every skater. Especially one (Yuuri) that never approached him like Young!Chris did for example

But the more you think about it, the more sense it actually makes.

When I see skaters do jumps, I can’t quite tell if it was a triple or a quad, it goes so fast in my opinion. But that’s because I’m not “immersed” in skating the way skaters are. They live and breathe it. Skaters can look at each others’ routines and see things that we mere mortals can’t. I think that someone like Viktor would look at Yuuri’s routine, and be able to tell that Yuuri is a fan of his.

Think of the musical industry. It’s almost obvious some artists are inspired by others by the fact that they incorporate their style into their songs, backtracks for some, or even names. I recently learned that a rapper called Frank Ocean made up his name and chose Frank because he was inspired by Frank Sinatra. That’s a bit of more obvious but the point stands.

Yuuri’s skating, it must have some element to it, some style or movement that comes from Viktor. He’s been skating Viktor’s routines since a young age,

it only makes sense that something from it has seeped into his own manner of skating. We may not notice it, but I bet Viktor, the originator, does. Not just Yuuri but I think he’d see this in any of his true fans.

Which actually makes me wonder….

Perhaps this smug look implies that Viktor can tell from Yurio’s skating that he’s his fan too!

Actually…during the Onsen on Ice…

I don’t think even Tsundere Yurio can hide that from Viktor XD Not when an element of it is apparent in his skating routines, just like Yuuri! 

So, basically, that’s how I reckon Viktor came to the conclusion that Yuuri was a Nikiforov Fanboy in ep 1. I believe then that he knew Yuuri’s FS went badly. Let’s say he didn’t get a chance to actually see the skate, which is likely as he would be preparing for his own. He’d have seen the final scores! I think Viktor offered Yuuri, his fan and fellow competitor, the chance to take a photo with him as a cheer-up. This is the same guy who threw flowers to his fan Chris, and said he looked forward to seeing him at Worlds as encouragement to a fellow skater. 

Hehe, thank you for the info share Anon-san :) I could do with some screenshots though!!

But phew. Blushes forever!!!

I wish I could tag the other Anon, but I hope they see this regardless :)

Please Anon-kouhai, it’s never a  bother! :)

Omg! I haven’t seen that post, but I assume you mean the blushes during The Kiss, right? But whyyyyy >-<  You’re not being irrational, I get it.

Well, I haven’t seen what it actually looks like (you don’t happen to have a link or a screenshot to share?), but–

Whether it’s this scene here, or afterwards when they lie on the ice, I feel Yuuri at least should be totally blushing. He just performed an extremely difficult FS while on little to no sleep, he should be flushed with exertion at the very least. And afterwards, I LIVE for his delighted flush and widened eyes!

I’ll try not to take offence from Kubo&co (hmmph) that they’ve removed the blushes (or to start wondering whether the creators are trying to hint that it’s not the first kiss). I think they’re removing a lot of blushes on the whole, not just targeting this moment.

I mean, from what I’ve seen, the always-blushing-chicken-nugget Minami has been hit too!

This screenshot from @kukapanda’s blog of some side-by-side comparison scenes of TV and BD shows how much blushing they’ve removed from Minami.

Personally, I think as the creators were going through YOI with the intent to tidy it up and clean up artistic inconsistencies, they probably noticed all the blushing that goes on (it’s an anime!), and when you look at something, not to watch and enjoy it, but to specifically fix and edit, then something like that might seem too much all of a sudden. So… the result was some blushing purge, I guess? :(

But it’s Okay, Anon. I’m sure they’ve made it better as a whole. And of course, we have this new scene: ( gif from kukapanda)

That’s kind of a sweet question to ask, Anon-san. Feels like you care for Phichit’s well-being (don’t we all though ;D).

I’m sure if Yuuri had left him alone in the place they once lived together, he’d totally be sad about it, no matter how easily he makes friends, Yuuri’s his BFF!

But the thing is, I don’t think that actually happened. That is, that he was left all alone.

After the GPF, Yuuri bombs Nationals and doesn’t qualify for Worlds. But, he doesn’t return to Hasetsu until the Worlds are actually taking place (which we can see as Minako watches Viktor perform his free skate live shortly after Yuuri returns).

So, upon departing from Detroit and taking a long flight back, we see that Yuuri returns to Hasetsu. Then, quite possibly on that very same day, Yuuri goes to say hi to Yuuko and ends up skating Victor’s FS. Then, it doesn’t take long at all (the very same night) for the video the triplets recorded to go viral.

At that point (i.e, 1-2 days since leaving Detroit), we get a sequence of shots showing everyone’s reactions to Yuuri’s viral video.

And lo and behold, that’s when Phichit makes his first appearance!!

He only gets about 1.6 seconds of screen time, and he only says a single word. “Yuu-ri”. That’s his reaction to the video that’s gone viral.

I gotta say props to Phichit’s voice actor for this small line. Because from that one word, Phichit’s character shines through. When he says ‘Yuuri’ in response to the video, it sounds like he’s actually saying ‘dayum boi, u dun it now lol’. From one word, we can feel laughter and amusement, amazement and pride, and a touch of nostalgia. For reals, listen to it again, it left a mark on me in that first ep and I kept wondering who that guy was!

But I digress. I want to point out 2 things in this shot of Phichit:

- his location

- and that he’s rolling his luggage.

I thought the background looked familiar…isn’t this where Phichit’s training when Yuuri facetimes him in later episodes? I went ahead and googled Imperial World to be certain, and here we have–

– yup, his rink in Thailand.

Add the rolling suitcase into the mix and we can safely assume that Phichit has just arrived back home.

So, during this 1-2 day time span from Yuuri leaving Detroit for Japan, Phichit has also left! No one got left behind in Detroit, they’ve left more or less together!